TORONTO — Industry Minister Mélanie Joly has given Cleveland-Cliffs five business days to show how it will keep Stelco jobs in Ontario, or face a court application under the Investment Canada Act.In a letter Monday to Paul Simon, Stelco’s president and general counsel, Joly said Ottawa takes the 2024 undertakings seriously and is prepared to ask a superior court for orders that could include compliance, divestiture or monetary penalties.“I trust that such steps will not be necessary,” she wrote. “Accordingly, I ask that Cleveland-Cliffs provide my officials with its plan for complying with all undertakings provided under the Act, within 5 business days of the date of this letter.”The letter covers every undertaking, not only headcount. The binding conditions require the company to keep, for five years, at least the same number of unionized employees in Canada, and the vast majority of non-unionized workers, as were on the payroll when the deal was announced.Joly also rejected the company’s market defence. The commitments “do not cease to apply simply because business strategy or market conditions have changed,” she wrote..Ohio-based Cleveland-Cliffs bought Stelco in a $3.4-billion cash-and-stock deal that closed in November 2024. Last week it said it would indefinitely idle cold-rolled and coated — galvanized — operations at Hamilton Works starting around October 9, and shift more production to hot-rolled coil at Lake Erie Works in Nanticoke.United Steelworkers Local 1005 says the Hamilton idle will put about 350 steelworkers out of work. The company has said as many as 500 workers at Hamilton and Nanticoke could be affected, and that overall tonnage will not fall, only the product mix. Local 1005 president Ron Wells said there are only about 40 to 45 openings at Nanticoke; the Nanticoke local expects to lose 60 to 80 members as well.“You have people making these decisions in Cleveland and they have no ties to our community,” Wells told CBC News. He said he wants Ottawa to enforce the act.Stelco vice-president of sales Frederic Fafard called the shutdown “an unfortunate but necessary action to help ensure the survival of Stelco.” He pointed to US Section 232 tariffs of up to 50% on certain Canadian steel. Demand for products finished at Hamilton was down nearly 25% from the 2024 quarterly average by the second quarter of 2026, the company said, and Canadian demand was down about 10%..Chief executive Lourenco Goncalves has argued the cuts are justified by the trade war, and that Stelco’s ability to sell into the US was an “underlying condition” of the purchase. He has also backed the Section 232 tariffs and said “America first is not America only.” Cleveland-Cliffs did not answer a request for comment on Tuesday.Prime Minister Mark Carney said last week the layoffs betrayed workers, and that Ottawa will “use all powers that we have” and pursue the company to the “fullest extent of the law.” Joly’s office said the company had rejected federal financial support, and called that “extremely disappointing.”The province and Ottawa pledged more than $200,000 through the Canada-Ontario Workforce Tariff Response so 75 Hamilton-area steel and manufacturing workers can retrain. Labour Minister Trevor Jones said Ontario is “fighting back against President Trump’s attacks on our economy by helping our workers retrain, upskill, and stay competitive.”Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy said last week the mill never applied for provincial tariff aid before the layoff notice. He said the company “wasn’t interested.”.WATCH: Stelco skipped Ontario tariff aid before Hamilton layoff
